« A climate of fear and self-censorship settles throughout the cultural environment » of the United States of Donald Trump-Liberation

Dedicated to the defense of artistic freedom and the protection of artists and cultural professionals, theArtists at Risk Connection (ARC) is an international organization based in France and the United States. She works at the crossroads of art and human rights, with partners from around the world to provide vital assistance to in -danger culture professionals. Since its creation in 2017, Arc has supported more than 2,000 artists. Installed in New York, the French Julie Trébault, its executive director, returns to the steep changes in the American cultural landscape since the election of Donald Trump and analyzes the butchering of a progressive tradition, in germ for several years.

How have artists and the cultural environment have been doing since January?

The actions of the new administration have been rapid and of unprecedented magnitude, with a policy which directly affects freedom of artistic expression and weakens public cultural institutions. This turning point not only questions the financing of the arts, but also the principles of inclusion and diversity which had, in recent years, made it possible to better represent the voices historically excluded from the American cultural narrative.

From the first weeks, presidential decrees were adopted to return to major federal policies of support for the arts. One of them canceled an in